Frady Named Avery County High School Varsity Boys’ Basketball Coach

Cody Frady has been named to fill the position, with his appointment approved by the Avery County Board of Education.

Frady comes to Avery from Carolina Day School in Asheville, where he coached basketball the past five seasons. He has 15 years of prep coaching experience. He is a graduate of Charles D. Owen High School in Black Mountain, where he played basketball. He served as a varsity assistant and head jayvee coach there for several seasons. The Avery job will be his first as a head prep basketball coach.

Frady is a graduate of Mars Hill College where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in physical education. He spent one season there as a student assistant men’s basketball coach to legendary head coach Terry Rogers. Mars Hill is a Division II member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

Frady then earned his Master’s degree in kinesiology from Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, where he also served as a graduate assistant basketball coach of the men’s team, which competes in the Division III ranks of the NCAA.

Frady declared that he is excited to be Avery’s new head coach and welcomes the challenges that accompany the position.

“I’m thrilled to get a head coaching opportunity and I’m grateful to the Avery Schools officials for having the confidence in me that I can do the job well,” he said. “Avery has four returning starters from last season and five seniors. So we will be a very experienced team capable of continuing success at the highest level this upcoming season. We compete in a very tough conference with Mountain Heritage, Owen, Polk County, Mitchell and Madison. And we also will play some tough non-conference opponents. But we will be well-prepared and compete hard in every game. And I am very optimistic about our program’s future beyond the 2018-19 season.”

Frady also noted that he is “most impressed” with the players he inherited from former head coach Scott Grubb, who resigned earlier this year to “continue academic pursuits”, according to Avery Athletics Director Jay Smith.

Among those players Frady will depend on heavily in his inaugural season to help the Vikings to continued success include seniors Tyree Jackson, Chase Kirkpatrick, Ryder Seiz, Sam McCollum and Evan Krug.

Avery has won four of the last five Western Highlands 2-1, 1-A Combined Conference regular-season and tournament championships and made deep runs into the state playoffs each season. Under the North Carolina High School Athletics Association (NCHSAA) classification, Avery, Mitchell and Polk County are 1-A schools, while Owen, Madison and Mountain Heritage are 2-A, making up the combined conference.

“Having played and coached at Owen, and also with my experience from Carolina Day as it, too, is in the North Carolina Mountains, I’m aware of what Avery has accomplished with its program,” Frady added. “Avery is the kind of job I’ve been wanting for a long time. I’m going to make the most of it.”

Frady also will be an assistant football coach at Avery working with the quarterbacks under new head football coach Mac Bryan.